In 1882, Harriet Ure, the sister of my greatgreat-grandmother, married Richard Strahan Kent, a prison warder, in Dublin. The couple had 7 children and Richard’s job took them to Derry, Armagh and Belfast city. They never again lived in Dublin.
On both of the extant censuses (only 1901 & 1911 survive for Ireland), the family lived in Derry, but on each one their eldest son, Richard, was absent. Where was he? This investigation led me all over what is now Northern Ireland and to London, reviewing many kinds of records, but was I looking at 2 people who had the same name or one man? This article examines this possibility and the conflicting evidence.
STARTING …AT THE ENDING
Let’s start at the end. Richard Kent, Snr, died in 1929. His address was 38 Perth St, Belfast, but he died on a visit to his now married daughter, Elizabeth Hastings, in Drogheda, Co. Louth. I obtained his will from PRONI, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, which was for some
